I’ve liked the name [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] for years and have really been loving it since at least last fall. I also have a soft spot for the nicknames Raph (cool) and Raphi/Raphy (cute). However, I cannot decide which spelling I like better for Raphi/Raphy. [name_m]Both[/name_m] sound like the name of the singer [name_m]Raffi[/name_m] and rhyme with the name of the candy Laffy [name_u]Taffy[/name_u] in my accent (they have the A sound in apple and an ee sound at the end). I want to keep the ph digraph from the full name in the nickname, and I don’t want it to end in -ie, which seems slightly frivolous to me. I also don’t like Raphe/[name_u]Rafe[/name_u] (pronounced RAYF). Anyway, what do you think of the name [name_m]Raphael[/name_m]? Which nickname spelling do you prefer?
not good,
but I like [name_f]Rafa[/name_f].
I love [name_m]Raphael[/name_m]. I’m not really a fan of the nicknames though. I prefer the Raphy spelling. Raphi looks like it should be “raf-eye.”
I love [name_u]Rafe[/name_u] or [name_f]Rafa[/name_f], and there’s always [name_u]Angel[/name_u] as an endearment.
I love [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] (even more with an f) and Raphy/Raphi isn’t a bad nickname. Raphie seems the most intuitive spelling to me. Out of your choices, I think I like it better with the -y.
[name_m]Rafael[/name_m] looks too vowel-heavy and imbalanced to me. I think [name_f]Rafa[/name_f] would sound like a female name in a mostly English-speaking country like the US.